title: Is a sedentary lifestyle an independent predictor for hospital and early mortality after elective cardiac surgery?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study evaluates whether a sedentary lifestyle is an independent predictor for increased mortality after elective cardiac surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  Three thousand one hundred fifty patients undergoing elective cardiac surgery between January 2007 and June 2012 completed preoperatively the Corpus Christi Heart Project questionnaire concerning physical activity (PA). Based on this questionnaire, 1815 patients were classified as active and 1335 patients were classified as sedentary. The endpoints of the study were hospital mortality and early mortality.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The study population had a mean age of 69.7 ± 10.1 (19-95) years and a mean logistic EuroSCORE risk of 5.1 ± 5.6 (0.88-73.8). Sedentary patients were significantly older (p = 0.001), obese (p = 0.001), had a higher EuroSCORE risk (p = 0.001), and a higher percentage of complications. Hospital mortality (1.1 % versus 0.4 % (p = 0.014)) and early mortality (1.5 % versus 0.6 % (p = 0.006)) were significantly higher in the sedentary group compared with the active group. However, a sedentary lifestyle was not identified as an independent predictor for hospital mortality (p = 0.61) or early mortality (p = 0.70).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Sedentary patients were older, obese and had a higher EuroSCORE risk. They had significantly more postoperative complications, higher hospital mortality and early mortality. Despite these results, sedentary behaviour could not be identified as an independent predictor for hospital or early mortality.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardio- Thoracic Surgery - 677, Heart Center, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, PO Box 9101, 6500 HB, Nijmegen, the Netherlands, l.noyez@ctc.umcn.nl.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Noyez
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Biemans
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Verkroost
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: van Swieten